On This Day — 21 January

2025

A fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu Province, Turkey, results in 78 people dead and 51 injured.

2025 Kartalkaya hotel fire

2023

Huu Can Tran, 72, opens fire in a dance studio in Monterey Park, California, killing eleven people and injuring nine others before later committing suicide. It is the worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County since the 2008 Covina massacre.

2023 Monterey Park shooting

2017

Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, including in Portland, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States.

2017 Women's March

2014

Rojava conflict: The Jazira Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.

Rojava Revolution

2011

Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people die from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office.

2011 Albanian opposition demonstrations

2009

Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow.

Gaza Strip

2005

In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.

Belmopan

2004

NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.

NASA

2003

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.

2003 Colima earthquake

2000

Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.

Ecuador

1999

War on drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.

War on drugs

1997

The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.

United States House of Representatives

1986

Conservative protestors attack a mock shanty town that had been erected on the Green at Dartmouth College as part of anti-apartheid protests.

Shanty town

1985

Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people.

Galaxy Airlines Flight 203

1981

Production of the DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

DMC DeLorean

1980

Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people.

Iran Air Flight 291

1976

Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.

Concorde

1971

The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.

Emley Moor transmitting station

1968

Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.

Vietnam War

1968

A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

1963

The Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad ends operation.

Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee Railroad

1960

Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia, with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey, on board.

Little Joe 1B

1960

Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people.

Avianca Flight 671

1960

A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.

Coalbrook mining disaster

1954

The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.

Nuclear marine propulsion

1951

The catastrophic eruption of Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea claims 2,942 lives.

1951 eruption of Mount Lamington

1950

American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.

Alger Hiss

1948

The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day.

Flag of Quebec

1945

The Trade Union Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine is founded in Mukachevo.

Trade Union Council of Transcarpathian Ukraine

1942

The Jewish resistance organization, Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye, based in the Vilna Ghetto is established.

Jewish resistance in German-occupied Europe

1941

Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania, the day before, members of the Iron Guard engage in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.

Bucharest

1932

Finland and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty.

Finland

1931

Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.

Isaac Isaacs

1925

Albania declares itself a republic.

Albania

1919

A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.

1st Dáil

1915

Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.

Kiwanis

1911

The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.

Monte Carlo Rally

1908

New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.

Sullivan Ordinance

1893

The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.

Tati Concessions Land

1854

The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life.

RMS Tayleur

1824

The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast during the First Anglo-Ashanti War.

Asante people

1793

After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.

National Convention

1789

The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.

The Power of Sympathy

1774

Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

Abdul Hamid I

1749

The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754.

Teatro Filarmonico

1720

Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.

Kingdom of Prussia

1535

Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.

Affair of the Placards

1525

The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.

Switzerland

763

Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.

Alid revolt of 762–763